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The US announced that it is placing financial sanctions on the Haqqani network in order to isolate them and force some kind of endgame. That this has taken so long should be some index of Pakistan’s reluctance to go after the Haqqani group, which it sees as an ally in the regional game.

The Americans have praised General Kayani for his army’s campaigns against the Pakistani Taliban but, behind the scenes, the Americans have been disappointed with the general’s failure to disown the Afghan Taliban, who benefit from sanctuaries in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

The United States pays the Pakistani military an estimated $1 billion a year to fight the militants. The American military has also depended on General Kayani’s quiet permission for the C.I.A. drones striking at Qaeda and Taliban operatives in the tribal areas, and has been appreciative of his efforts to ensure transit on the supply route to American and NATO troops in Afghanistan that runs through Pakistan.

Count on Pakistan’s civilian bureaucracy to mess this up again (giving a military leader a green light has always meant that military rule is around the corner).